Tess Giberson

How do you dramatize the mundane? There's a case to be made that this is the central question of all creative endeavor—that any work of art is, at the most essential level, one person's attempt to see some common part of life afresh and give it new resonance. Tess Giberson's reference this season—the sportswear familiar to her from her rural New England childhood—was mundane, indeed. But the intriguing thing here was that Giberson really invested in that mundaneness, and honored it. There was drama on the runway, but there was a sense of humility, too. It made for an interesting tone. Giberson struck most forcefully with her excellent puffers and long, billowing shirtdresses in faded farmer check. The puffer gilets with daggered hems and a hand-knit back were the hands-down standout of this show; elsewhere, Giberson scored with her typically great hand-knits—the long shawl collar cardigans in particular—and her elongated shirting. A tunic-length button-down with a subtle stripe, worn over narrow trousers—it was a simple enough proposition, one you could even call mundane. But it had its own dramatic force.